Magazine of the Week

Welcome back, everyone!

This week’s MoW is Holiday. This is a title we only have 3 years of down in PERS, and it’s in the Open Stacks down at our home on the 4th floor of the library. However, we do have sporadic older issues of this title in our Special Collections and Archives area, also on the 4th floor. A quick click into the link above will show you which issues are in which place.

 

 

This title was begun in 1946 in a rich suburb of Philadelphia. Marketing to the postwar pursuit of leisure pursuits, it featured sumptuous photography of exotic locations, information about fancy restaurants, and lots of images of contemporary celebrities on their international vacations. At its height, circulation of the title reached 1,000,000 subscribers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the 1970s, which is the part of the series currently still in PERS, it read a bit like an international edition of Town & Country magazine, with its focus on high-end hotels and international jetset travelers like Tony Randall, Pauline Trigere, and the royal family of Monaco (featuring, of course, Princess Grace, formerly Grace Kelly of Hollywood fame).

 

 

 

 

 

By the mid-1970s, however, the travel business had shifted to accommodate the earthier focus of middle-class travel. Students backpacking in the far east sought authentic experiences and local food tastes. Revenues dropped and the magazine was sold to its competitor, who published Travel magazine. The two titles were merged and continued as Travel Holiday, which we do not have.

A French publishing house picked the title “Holiday” for a new magazine launched in 2014. This title comes out 2x/year and has the kind of mix of fashion, architecture, and world travel that is found in several of our popular titles.

http://www.holiday-magazine.com/